5 ways to successfully turn passion into a business

The other day, I launched a new business dedicated to creating artwork for folks who appreciate motivational thoughts combined with cool, stylized images. It’s called NVRMIND and it’s dedicated to two things that I love – dope artwork and inspirational experiences.

This new business is the result of something I’ve learned over the past 5 years of running my own businesses and excelling in my career.

It’s easier than ever to monetize your passion.

When it comes to taking your passion for something and turning it into a business, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Monetizing your passion is as simple as this: taking what you love and putting it into a bucket that can be sold. Certainly, it’s not a cut and dry way of thinking but it makes monetizing your passion a much more viable thing to do when you think of it that way.

Gary V said it the other day, but the simplest way to think about it this.

Go where the money is.

People love to talk about passion but you need to think of passion in terms of buckets you can sell. You have to synthesize what you love into a bucket that is a business. Passion is great, but unless you put it into a product, it’s just a passion (which is fine… but not if you want to make it what you do for a living).

If you enjoy nightlife or going out, start a club or start a high end vodka business that sells in nightlife or start an app that lets you cut the line at the club. Start whatever it is that has been a proven market that can encompass your passion area.

I’ve learned SO MUCH over the past couple of years – from starting this publication, to co-hosting a Forbes top 7 podcast, to launching digital e-products, creating a clothing and apparel brand and now today to NVRMIND.

With this brand I took my passion and interest in creating unique, artistic and inspirational canvasses, respect for influencers and artists like Mr. Flawless and Alec Monopoly and a desire to extend what I’m doing here on PRSUIT. The result? A business that is already profitable and growing. It’s not proven by any means, but it has proven to me that I can (and anyone can) take a passion and turn it into cold hard cash.

Here are 5 ways to monetize your passion.

1. Use the internet!

Crazy thought… you can learn anything you want at anytime!

Yes!

The internet allows you to do that.

And guess what? Chances are that someone has done or is doing something similar to what you want to do.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when you have the entirety of the internet at your disposal!

Sites like Reddit, Quora and larger sites like Entrepreneur (and PRSUIT!) are treasure troves of information from and for young entrepreneurs, artists and creators.

If you’re looking for motivation or inspiration, start with the easiest asset you have – your computer or phone. Start researching and I’m sure you’ll find something that’ll inspire you to take next steps.

2. Start small

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to not get ahead of yourself. Want to launch a clothing line? Don’t order 1,000 shirts, buy a domain, office space and a team!

Start small! Take your passion idea and examine existing buckets that have proven to be successful. Then, make your idea fit into those existing buckets and go from there. Again, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to create the next great app or consumer product! You just have to make an existing product better, or introduce a new spin in a stagnate market.

For NVRMIND, the viability of quotes has been proven time and time again. My passion for creative art pieces and stylized photography was the wild card. Time to test that addition.

3. Test the market

The internet has made testing an idea so frickin’ easy! Literally. And the easiest way to test the market is through Facebook!

Facebook ads give you almost unlimited ability to test different audiences – something totally unprecedented in history and previously unapproachable for the average Joe.

Take $5/day to start and see how your targeted audience reacts to your new product. Do they visit your site? Do they buy your product? What are they saying? The feedback can be almost immediate and in the matter of weeks, you can quickly see if your idea in its current form needs to be tweaked or if it’s time to start getting serious at promoting.

4. Focus on what you’re good at.

Once you’ve proven viability, it’s time to run a business. While it might not be a 6 or 7 figure business just yet, you should run it like it is. The best advice I can give is to focus on what you’re good at, learn skills that make you better at it and then outsource the rest.

For NVRMIND, I am good at marketing and business operations. I am not a designer or artist. For that task, I hired outside talent and now provide creative direction to him. This frees me up to focus on what I’m good at and enjoy the process rather than trying to learn every skill.

Outsourcing is a life saver!

5. Scale! Or don’t…

Here’s the thing about building a business around a passion… it’s not guaranteed to succeed… and that’s OK. In fact, it should be expected that way.

The skills, insights and experience you garner from launching a business around your passion are invaluable and while it’s not always fun to check your pride and admit that it’s just not capable of being a scalable business or that you’re not quite ready to run a business, it’s an experience that few have.

So, I encourage you to examine what you love, find an bucket to place it and then test small, dream big and execute. There’s no excuse to not act in this day and age!

If I can ever be of any help with your idea, please email me! case@prsuit.com